Just about everybody had a memory to share. Senior officers remembered a brilliant, courageous soldier at the height of his powers, while his mates preferred to dwell on madcap moments such as the time they almost burned down a French barrack block or when he set off the fire sprinkler over a bunk bed, drenching both himself and a companion.

Staff at Truro Cathedral, where bomb disposal expert Olaf Schmid's funeral took place today, recalled the fresh-faced head chorister who once sang there, while family friends spoke of a cheeky young man who couldn't wait to make something of himself in the army.

But it was the memories of his widow, Christina, that moved the most. Schmid, who died as he tried to make safe a bomb in Afghanistan last month, was a "warrior" husband, and a wonderful father to his stepson Laird, she said.

Wearing his medals, Mrs Schmid said her husband was a protector rather than a destroyer of life and urged "peacemakers" to work as hard as he did to preserve life. She suggested that soldiers involved in the Afghan conflict were plagued with self-doubt, and revealed that her husband had gone through dark times. She argued that civilians needed to do more to get behind the troops even if they disagreed with the war.

Mrs Schmid said veterans were not as well looked after as they should be. She urged the government never to forget service personnel and said simply that too many were dying.

After every death in Afghanistan, relatives and colleagues eulogise the person who has been lost but the outpouring of grief following the death of Staff Sergeant Schmid, who died on the last day in the field at the end of a gruelling five-month tour in which he had made safe 64 IEDs, was of a different order.

He was celebrated as a man who had saved many lives. He was "simply the bravest", a "phenomenon", "legendary". Hardened men wept and professed their love for "Oz" Schmid.

More than 1,000 people packed into Truro Cathedral for his funeral service and hundreds more took a break from work to line the streets and remember a proud Cornishman born in Truro of a German mother and Swedish father. The first tribute was made by Major Kier Head, commanding officer of Schmid's regiment 11 EOD, the army's specialist bomb disposal unit. He said Schmid had the intelligence, intuition and bravery to "take that long walk" to the location of an IED. Schmid was a "consummate professional … an emperor amongst men".

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Thomson, commanding officer of 2 Rifles, spoke of how Schmid had cleared the notorious "Pharmacy Road" in Sangin after heavy mining had cut off a company of troops who were running low on supplies. Thomson said it took Schmid 11 hours to clear five IEDs. A day later he was dealing with 31 devices in 24 hours.

Schmid's friend, Warrant Officer Class 2 Deano Taylor, reminded the congregation of his wilder side. The six speeding tickets he picked up in France, his habit of parading around stark naked except for his green Royal Marines beret. Taylor concluded simply: "Sleep well, mate."

But the final tribute came from Christina Schmid, right. She said her husband had served for "traditional warrior values" to protect the country he loved. "Olaf lived and stood for something he believed in. And in the end he paid the ultimate sacrifice for those beliefs. Please do not allow him to die in vain."